Two women from Bristol have explained why they deliberately got themselves jailed for taking part in a mass civil resistance protest at one of Britain’s biggest oil depots. Holly Exley, 34, and Chloe Naldrett, a 42-year-old mum of two, recorded video messages before they took part in the action and were arrested and jailed at the Kingsbury Oil depot last week.
They were among 51 protesters from the ‘Just Stop Oil’ movement, calling for no more fossil fuel extraction in the UK, in the light of the dire warnings about climate change and global warming.
Holly, an illustrator, and Chloe, a theatre producer, were remanded to prison for at least a week by high court judges in London and Birmingham as part of a mass arrest and imprisonment of the campaigners after they broke a court injunction preventing any blockages of the oil depot in the Midlands last week.
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In a recorded message to her friends and family, and to the wider world, Chloe Naldrett said she had the support of her husband Joe and their two sons.
She added that, while some of her friends and family might be distressed and think that ‘this is a really extreme thing to do’, she said: “The Secretary General of the UN, has said that the real extremists are the governments and the big energy companies, who are continuing to pursue fossil fuel projects, in full knowledge of what that’s doing to our future.” Both women urged people to get involved in a mass civil resistance operation planned to take place in Westminster, London, on October 1.
The arrests came last Wednesday, September 14, and a total of 51 people from around the country, along with three others detained earlier, were brought before the courts in London and Birmingham, to be remanded in custody for at least a week - because they refused to comply with the court proceedings.
In her statement, Holly Exley explained that filling up the police and court time was part of a strategy, because ordinary protesting had not worked.
“By breaking the law, by getting arrested, by going through the courts, by spending time in prison, we’re putting pressure on the pillars of support, such as the police and the judiciary, which prop-up the current system which is doing us harm,” she said.
“What I say next might sound a bit harsh, but I just want to remind people that the people who have the power to stop this, and the power to change this, and the people that are allowing this to continue, are not looking at your cardboard sign,” she added. “They are not threatened by it, they are not convinced by it.
“And they also are not debating your petitions. We’ve exhausted all other options. We’ve been asking politely for decades, and we’ve had the opposite of what we wanted. The whole time I’ve been alive on this planet, people have been asking nicely for things to change. The IPCC was set up in the year of my birth and it’s gotten to the point now where the people who have been tasked with proving just how bad things really are, are now the ones who have to put their bodies on the line to force change,” she added.
When they appeared in court on Thursday, September 15, none of the 51 arrested engaged in the court process. Some stood on court furniture, others turned their back on the judge, while one woman took off her top to reveal a slogan.
The action comes as sources in Downing Street reveal new Prime Minister Liz Truss is set to signal the end of a moratorium on fracking, and also in a speech said the UK should return to extract more North Sea oil and gas.
“This is the moment to come together and resist,” said a Just Stop Oil spokesperson. “We are not prepared to just watch while they destroy everything we love. We’re done with begging. Voting has changed nothing. We are going to stop new oil whether those in power agree or not. As citizens, as humans, as parents and children we have every right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love. This is the moment, we are the last generation that can solve this,” they added.
Holly Exley’s statement
"This video is only going to be uploaded and published if I find myself in prison, so seeing as you are watching this, I am now incarcerated in the UK and this video is my attempt to explain a little bit about why that might have happened.
"I’m sure that many of you in my audience are already aware and really concerned about the climate crisis, so I’m not going to spend too long on this section, mostly because it’s really overwhelming and scary and I think we all know how bad things really are.
"In the UK it feels like things have got a bit worse, politically at least we have a new right wing PM who seems to view a habitable future through the lens of the culture wars. She used to work for Shell and she’s promised that she will issue 130 new oil and gas licences, which is really brilliant news for BP and Shell, but really terrible news for everyone else.
"It’s decisions like this that lock us into fossil fuel dependency for decades to come and that’s really scary. I’m sure that in your countries, there are many similar stories as well.
"The international Energy Agency has said there can be no new fossil fuel extraction, the General Secretary of the UN has said there can be no new fossil fuel extraction. Climate scientists around the world are saying there can be no new fossil fuel extraction in increasingly grave terms. And yet all around the world in the global north, in the rich nations, we are planning for extracting even more - and the emissions are still rising.
"Because of this grave situation that we find ourselves in, breaking the law by taking part in non-violent civil disobedience is one of the most important things we can do as citizens to affect change, and there are three reasons for that.
"The first one is strategically, by breaking the law, by getting arrested, by going through the courts, by spending time in prison, we’re putting pressure on the pillars of support, such as the police and the judiciary, which prop-up the current system which is doing us harm.
"The second reason is morally. There is a moral imperative to resist a system that is harming us and others. I really like this quote by Martin Luther King. He said: “I’m convinced that non-cooperation with evil is as much of a moral obligation as cooperation with good.
"And the last reason is relatively. Our actions need to be in relation to the scale of the crisis we face. Ask yourself, is your response relative to the scale of the danger that we are in? And are you using the privileges that you have? Previous tactics do not work. Protest alone doesn’t seem to work. David Graber once said: ‘Protest is like asking for a well to be built by the powers that be, direct action is building a well yourself and daring the powers that be to stop you’.
“What I say next might sound a bit harsh, but I just want to remind people that the people who have the power to stop this, and the power to change this, and the people that are allowing this to continue, are not looking at your cardboard sign. They are not threatened by it, they are not convinced by it.
"And they also are not debating your petitions. We’ve exhausted all other options. We’ve been asking politely for decades, and we’ve had the opposite of what we wanted. The whole time I’ve been alive on this planet, people have been asking nicely for things to change. The IPCC was set up in the year of my birth and it’s gotten to the point now where the people who have been tasked with proving just how bad things really are, are now the ones who have to put their bodies on the line to force change.
"And I just have to ask how we’ve allowed it to get to this stage. I’m personally really scared about the future and I’m really devastated about extreme weather events happening to people around the world - people that have done the least to deserve this, and the people with the smallest carbon emissions, those in the global south, who are having their lives destroyed by the climate crisis that is there with them now, and our leaders only want to make it worse for them.
"So I’d like to ask you to please join Just Stop Oil on October 1 in Westminster for the largest act of civil resistance in UK history, and if you’re international, please look up civil resistance campaigns in your country, and please support Just Stop Oil in any way you can."
Chloe Naldrett’s statement
“If you’re watching this video, I’m in prison. And I’m in prison because of action that I have consciously taken as part of a campaign of civil resistance against this Government, because of their mishandling of the climate and cost of living crisis, and their refusal to mobilise behind renewable energy and home insulation, which will be part of the solution to both of those problems.
I’ve taken this action alongside a great number of ordinary people like me: Doctors, social workers, farmers, students, vicars, retired teachers - all of whom have been prepared to stand up at this moment and say that we will not accept the trading of our children’s futures for short term profit.
I know that some of my family and friends will find this distressing, and that they will think that this is a really extreme thing to do. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, has said that the real extremists are the governments and the big energy companies, who are continuing to pursue fossil fuel projects, in full knowledge of what that’s doing to our future.
I need to say to you all that I’m okay. I’ve done this with a huge amount of support, including the support of Joe and my boys. And I know exactly what I’m doing and why. If you’d like to support me further please share this video, step into a conversation with family and friends about why someone you know has gone to prison. And please look up Just Stop Oil, so you can see more about this campaign of civil resistance, that thousands of people are joining in with.
Please join us in Westminster from the first of October. We can have no new oil. Please for the sake of our children and our futures, this is the time to step forward and join us.”
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